Rodent trap



DEC. 25, R R Ross RODENT TRAP Filed June l2, 1946 t afl'ozu 217,4.

Patented Dec. 25, i951' Appli-tationjiuneiz, 1946?;serieingeitzns la rodent trap which may be readily set without danger of injury to the hands of the person setting the trap. Y

A further object of the invention is to provide a trap wherein the trap will be limited in its movement, to insure against injury to the finger of a child, if a child should attempt to operate the trap by pressing the trigger lever with his finger.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and inthe details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein described, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention..

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a rear elevational view of a trap constructed in accordance with the invention, the trap being vshown as secured to an end wall of a box.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the trap embodies a supporting plate 5 which is formed with openings at its corners to receive securing screws I, whereby the supporting plate may be secured to a vertical supporting surface.

The supporting plate 5 is formed with an opening 6 which provides the entrance opening to the trap, the opening 6 of the plate 5 being arranged so that it may be positioned to align with an opening in the supporting member 1, which may be in the form of a box, the plate 5 being secured to the rear surface of the supporting member 'i so that it will be concealed.

Guide plates 8 are secured to the rear surfaces of the supporting plate 5 and are formed with oirset guide anges 9 under which the sliding jaw I0 operates, the sliding jaw being formed with a curved lower edge II that is adapted to cooperate with the curved edge I2 of the entrance openlng 6, which forms the stationary jaw of the trap.

Extendingiat?rightaanglesswith'qrespect to the: ndrcarriedrby theeslidin'g jaw-isa; piml 3;. against which the.pivotedar-mIllY engages;- the; pivoted arm` Iffhavingga. right-angled,- end` extended into aan.; opening. ofi-f the. supDQrting-g` plate 5.

The reference character I5 indicates a spring which is of the nat-steel type, the spring having one end thereof reduced and extended through an opening in the bracket I6 that is secured to 'the inner surface of the plate 5. The opposite end 2 of the spring I5 is also reduced and formed with shoulders, the reduced end being extended `through the opening I'I in the jaw I0 at a point beyond the pin I3, the shoulders of the spring I5 adjacent to the reduced end, preventing movement of the reduced end of the spring through the opening I7 beyond a certain point. It might be further stated that these shoulders are so located that a length of the spring extends beyond the slidingr jaw I0 to engage the shoulder I3 at one end of the slot I9, when the jaw moves to its closed position, thereby restricting movement of the jaw to prevent the curved edge thereof moving to a point adjacent to the curved edge I2, so that a small object positioned within the entrance opening will not be injured by the movable jaw moving to its closed position. Thus it will be seen that the end of the spring I5 extended beyond the jaw Ill, acts as a stop for theA jaw Il).

The trigger lever is indicated by the reference character 20, the trigger lever being pivotally supported on the post 2I that extends from the plate 5, the trigger lever 20'having a linger 22 that engages the pivoted arm I4 when the trap is set.

As shown by Figure l of the drawings, the lever 20 is formed with an end` 23 that extends laterally therefrom, and is of a length to lie in front of the entrance opening 6 of the trap to guard the entrance opening. Y y

. Secured to the rear surface of the end 23 of the trigger lever, is a prong 24 on which the bait is held concealed from view to the rodent entening opening 6.

In the operation of the trap, a rodent attempt ing to gain entrance to the supporting member 1, which may be in the form of a box, to remove vthe bait, will cause the trigger lever 2l] to be moved inwardly directly away from the pivoted arm I4, which has been moved to place the spring I5 under tension when the trap is set, as shown by Figure l.

As the finger 22 is'moved away from the arm I4, the sliding jaw I will be released to the viding a stop adapted to engage one end of said vertically elongated opening, limiting downward movement of said vertically sliding jaw, and

means including a trigger for releasing said movviding a jaw,rv adapted to be secured to a support 1 having an opening in registry with the opening of the supporting plate, said supporting plate having a vertically elongated opening, a vertically sliding jaw mounted on the supporting plate andY being movable over the opening of the plate, ad-apted to grip a rodent within the opening of the plate, said vertically sliding jaw having a transversely elongated opening formed therein, a spring member having one of its ends secured to the supporting plate, the opposite end of the spring being reduced and extended through the transversely elongated opening of said jfaw securing the spring to said sliding jaw. a portion of said reduced end of the spring extendingf'beyond the side surface of the jaw pro- .liable jaw from a set position, adapted to trap a rodent entering said entrance opening of vthe trap.

'i 'ROY R.' ROSS.

REFERENCES CITED Y The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 15 Number 'Y Name Date 365,763 Swan June 28, 1887 488,448 Nelson Dec. 20, 1892 996,599 Harding June 27, 1911 1,007,975 Reese Nov. 7, 1911 20 1,281,403 Marcell et al Oct. 15, 1918 1,415,093 Hurley May 9,1922 1,463,787 Baldwin NAugJ?, 1923 2,047,417 Kalina July 14, 1936 2,059,164

Woods Oct. 27, 1936 

